Official "Science News" Thread

[retina]

Originally Posted by LaurV

They even were not clever enough to hide it completely. I mean, it will cost you money to read it, but only if you are silly (correctly: computer illiterate).

I suspect the website "designer" is also somewhat computer illiterate. Haha, "wrappro-paywall", they were misled by the name of the tool, thinking it was some super-uber pro thing.

[Xyzzy]

For retina: https://motherfuckingwebsite.com/

PS - Some may say this is NSFW. If the people you work for are that sensitive maybe consider getting a new job!

[retina]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

For retina: https://motherfuckingwebsite.com/

http://bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com/
https://thebestmotherfucking.website/
https://perfectmotherfuckingwebsite.com/

[TommyJ]

A hot, rocky “super Earth,” near one of the oldest stars in the galaxy has taken a team of planet-hunting scientists by surprise.

rocky planet graphic
Artist’s rendition of TOI-561, one of the oldest, most metal-poor planetary systems discovered yet in the Milky Way galaxy. (W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko)
The planet is about 50 percent larger than Earth but requires less than half a day to orbit its star.

“For every day you’re on Earth, this planet orbits its star twice,” said UC Riverside planetary astrophysicist and team member Stephen Kane.

https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2021/0...s-oldest-stars

[retina]

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-smart-aerogel-air.html

In a humid environment, one kilogram of [a type of aerogel] will produce 17 liters of water a day.

I'm not sure what they define as a requirement for a "humid environment". I suppose that discounts Antarctica. But the tropics are fair game, and probably the type of place where you'd need it the most.

It also does not need a battery.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by retina

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-smart-aerogel-air.html

I'm not sure what they define as a requirement for a "humid environment". I suppose that discounts Antarctica. But the tropics are fair game, and probably the type of place where you'd need it the most.

Hmm. The question "What about the heat?" occurs to me. I may be overlooking something obvious, or messing up the calculation, but it seems like this thing would be putting out a significant amount of heat: When water condenses into liquid from vapor, it releases its "latent heat of vaporization." The latent heat of vaporization of water is huge - I recall 540 calories per gram from high school chem class which is (Google Google) 2260 kJ/kg. (That's at 100C, I'm guessing it's not too different and possibly higher at ambient.)

A liter of water has a mass of just about 1kg, so condensing 17 liters of water releases 17*2260*1000 joules of heat, which over 24 hours comes out to putting out heat at a rate of

(17*2260*1000)/(24*60*60) J/sec, i.e. 444.67+ watts

You might be able to use that much heat to do some useful work...

[retina]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Hmm. The question "What about the heat?" occurs to me. ... 2260 kJ/kg. (That's at 100C, I'm guessing it's not too different and possibly higher at ambient.)

According to WP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:H...2BWater%29.png

At room temperature (20C) it is about 44kJ/mol. Which translates to ~480W continuous heat output. A thermocouple could convert that to a flow of electrons.

But I'm unsure of the power density. The aerogel is very sparse, so 1kg would be quite large in physical size. So maybe the temperature increase is quite modest.

Also with no battery they don't say how the air is kept flowing over the aerogel. So perhaps the excess heat can be used to drive fans to create the airflow.

[rogue]

We Wouldn’t Be Able to Control Super Intelligent Machines

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Five ways to make AI a greater force for good in 2021

The 11 biggest space missions of 2021 (and their chances of success)

New Quantum Algorithms Finally Crack Nonlinear Equations

Autism Theory 25 Years in the Making

Astronomers Are Keeping a Close Watch on the Next Star Over

Scientists paint multi-color atlas of the brain

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by rogue

We Wouldn’t Be Able to Control Super Intelligent Machines

Related to that, I remember a nice SF story I read over 40 years ago (and which is about 111 years old - that's a decimal number, not a binary one, hehe). It was called "the machine stops" (lucky, the original title is the same as the Ro version I read, so it was easy to gulugulu it). Must to read.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by rogue

The 11 biggest space missions of 2021 (and their chances of success)

Probability of success: 8/10. Russia knows how to land a spacecraft on the moon. Its chaotic space agency just needs to launch it.

Bwhaaa haha! Genau! Richtig!

[jwaltos]

Originally Posted by LaurV

"[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops"]

Just read the wiki synopsis...reminds me of a recent political situation where the machine was already broken but the mending apparatus was able to patch up what it could so it could toddle on.